Railway draft rigging



April 18, 1950 e. E. DATH RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 11, 1946 HEIFII lllxxllillilll InVen/or: Geg ge ZIP/072772.

April 18, 1950 BATH 2,504,253

RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING Filed Sept. 11, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 InVQn i O r:

Geo qe EDai k.

A ril 18, 1950 Filed Sept. 11, 1946 G. E. DATH 2,504,253

RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 illustrating my therewith; Figure 2 is a central, longitudinal, 'vertical sectional view of Figure 1, correspond- Patentecl Apr. 18, 1950 RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING George E. Dath, Mokena, Ill., assignor to W. H. Miner, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application September 11, 1946, Serial No. 696,268

'2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in railway draft riggings.

One object of the invention is to provide a friction casing or shell buttressed against the usual end sill of the car, and a spring resisted friction clutch telescoped within the casing and actuated by the drawbar, being forced inwardly of the casing in draft by a follower member carried by the drawbar and adapted to shoulder ,against the casing to limit compression of the friction shock absorbing mechanism.

Other objects of the invention will more clearly .appear from the description and claims herein- ,of this specification, Figure 1 is a longitudinal plan view, partly broken away, of the underframe structure at one end of a railway car, improvements in connection ing substantially to the line 2-2 of said figure,

showing the drawbar in side elevation. Figure 3 is a transverse, vertical sectional view, correspending substantially to the line 3-3 of Figure 2, showing the friction casing in elevation. Figure 4 is a rear elevational view of the front .sill of the underframe structure of a railway car at one end thereof, and lll l the draft sills. Spaced inwardly from the end sill Ill is a transverse beam member l2 to which the inner ends ofthe draft sills are fixed, suitable brackets l3--l3 being employed for this purpose. The draft sills ll-H are of channel-shaped cross section, having top and bottom flanges 4-74 3. The front ends of the draft sills are supported from a cover plate I5, which is fixed to. the top fiangesM-M of thesills, the plate l5, in turn,

, being fixed to an inwardly extending top flange I6 on the end sill.

My improvements, as shown in the drawings, comprise broadly a drawbar A; a front stop B; a friction casing C; a wedge D; friction shoes E-E-E; a spring resistance F; a follower G cooperating with the drawbar A and wedge D;

guide rods or bars H-H for the follower G; and

a supporting bracket J for the friction casing.

The drawbar A is of the type having a coupling hook at the outer end thereof for engagement with the coupling means of angadjacent railway draft rigging comprising a friction shock absorbing mechanism actuated by the usual drawbar to cushion draft. shocks, wherein the friction shock absorbing mechanism includes a 2 car. The drawbar A has an enlarged head IT at the outer end having the hook formed thereon The shank E8 of the drawbar A, which shank extends rearwardly from the hook thereof, is of cylindrical cross section, that is, in the form of a cylindrical bar or shaft. A nut I9 is threaded on the rear end of the shank I8. The drawbar is accommodated for lengthwise sliding movement by the front stop 3, which is fixed to the rear side of the end sill. Ill, as herein- ,after pointed out, and is provided with a forwardly projecting, cylindrical boss, 25!, which extends through an opening in the end sill. The boss 28 protrudes slightly beyond the front side of the end sill l6 and is provided with a central opening or bore 2! therethrough in which the shank I8 of the draWbar'A is slidingly guided. Inward movement of the drawbar is positively limited by shouldered engagement of the head [1 thereof with the outer end face of the boss 20.

The guide rods or bars H are arranged at opposite sides of the drawbar A and have their front and rear ends fixed to the end sill In and the beam 12, respectively. The guide rods HH extend through the end sill to and the beam 12 and the front and rear ends of each bar are threaded and provided with nuts 22--22 and 22-22 for clamping the bar H in position. The rear end of each bar H is directly fixed to the beam [2 by the clamping nuts 22-22, which engage the front and rear sides of the beam. The front ends of the bars extend through the end sill IQ and laterally projecting, securing ears 23--23 on the front stop B and are held clamped in position by the nuts 2222 at said front end, which engage, respectively, the outer side of the end sill ii! and the rear sides of the ears 23-43 of the stop member B, thereby also clamping this stop member to the end sill.

As shown in Figures 1, 2, and 5, the friction shock absorbing unit proper, comprising the easing C, wedge block D, shoes E, and spring F is disposed between the draft sills. II--II of the car in abutment with the front stop B. The shank I8 of the drawbar A extends through this unit and actuates the same in draft action, as hereinafter pointed out.

The friction casing C is in the form of a shell of hexagonal, transverse cross section, open at the rear end and closed at the front end by a transverse wall 24. As shown most clearly in Figure 2, the closed end of the casing C bears on the front stop member B, being seated in a pocket 25 provided in the stop member, The

Y extreme front end of the casing is rounded, as

friction surfaces 28, which converge inwardly of the casing, thereby providing a tapered friction shell portion at the open end of the casing. At said open end, the casing has three inturned stop lugs 29, said lugs being located at alternate corners of the same.

The wedge D is in the form of a hollow block having three inwardly extending, flat wedge faces 30 arranged symmetrically about the central longitudinal axis of the mechanism. The wedge block D is also provided with three radially projecting lugs 3|, which are in longitudinal alignment with the lugs 29 of the casing and are adapted to engage the same to limit outward movement of the wedge block to hold the same assembled with the casing. The wedge block D hasa central opening 32 therethrough adapted to accommodate the shank I8 of the drawbar A.

The friction shoes E, which are three in number, are alternated with the lugs 29 of the casing and each shoe has a lengthwise, extending V-shaped friction surface 33 on the outer side engaging with the corresponding friction surface of the casing, the V-shaped surface of each shoe engaging two adjacent surfaces 28-28 of the casing. On the inner side, each shoe has a wedge face 34 engaged by the corresponding wedge face 30 of the block D.

The spring F, which is preferably under initial compression, is disposed within the casing C and comprises inner and outer coils, bearing at their front ends on the end wall 2d of the casing, and having their rear ends bearing, respectively, on

the inner end of the wedge block D and the inner accommodate the shank. The drawbar shankextends through the opening of the wall 24, the inner coil spring, the opening 32 of the wedge block D, and through the follower G which is carried on the drawbar.

shock absorbing capacity. Compression of the mechanism is positively limited by engagement of the follower G with the rear end of the casing C, as shown in Figure 5, thus preventing the wedge D from being drawn too far into the easing by the drawbar and protecting the spring F against undue compression. When the actuating force is reduced, the spring F restores all of the parts to the normal position shown in Figures 1 and 2, outward movement of the wedge being limited by engagement of the lugs 3| thereof with the lugs 29 of the casing A.

I claim:

1. In a draft rigging for a railway car having a transverse end sill and a transverse beam rearwardly of said end sill, the combination with a front stop member on the inner side of said end sill; of a friction casing open at its rear end and closed at its front end and having said front end in engagement with the front stop; rigidly mounted guide bars at opposite sides of said casing having their rear ends fixed to said transverse beam and their front ends secured to said end sill and front stop member; a transversely disposed follower rearwardly of said casing, said follower extending from one guide bar to the other and being slidingly supported on said bars; a plurality of friction shoes slidingly telescoped within the rear end of the casing; a wedge block in wedging engagement with the shoes and having its rear end bearing on said follower; spring means within the casing yieldingly resisting inward movement of the wedge and shoes; and a The follower G, as most clearly shown in Figures 3, 5, and 6, is in the form of a vertically disposed, transversely extending, relatively heavy plate having a vertically enlarged, central portion 35 and arms 33 laterally extending from opposite ends of said central portion. The outer ends of the arms are slidingly guided on the bars H-H, the same being notched at their outer ends, as indicated at 31-41, to engage over said bars. The drawbar shank l8 extends through a central opening 38 in the portion 35 of the follower G and is anchored to the latter by the nut IS. The nut I9 is threaded on the rear end of the shank and abuts the rear side of the follower. The central portion of the follower G bears directly on the outer end of the wedge block D to actuate the latter. As will be evident, the nut 19 provides for adjustment of the follower G on the drawbar to compensate for wear of the parts of the mechanism and maintains the follower in contact with the wedge in the full release posiand forced against the friction surfaces of the;

casing and carried inwardly along said surfaces, resisted by the outer coil of the spring F. The resultant combined spring and friction resistance produced by this action provides the desired high drawbar extending through said end sill, casing, spring means, wedge block, and follower, said drawbar having shouldered engagement with said follower to pull the same forwardly therewith in draft.

2. In a draft rigging for a railway car having a transverse end sill and a transverse beam rearwardly of said end sill, the combination with a front stop member on the inner side of said sill; of a friction casing open at its rear end and closed at its front end and having said front end in engagement with the front stop; rigidly mounted guide bars at opposite sides of said casing having their rear ends fixed to said transverse beam and their front ends secured to said end sill; an elongated, transversely disposed follower rearwardly of said casing, said follower extending from one guide bar to the other and having its opposite ends provided with laterally outwardly opening notches engaged over said guide bars to slidingly support said follower for lengthwise movement on said bars; a plurality of friction shoes slidingly telescoped within the open end of the casing; a wedge block in wedging engagement with the shoes and having its rear end bearing on said follower; spring means within the casing yieldingly resisting inward movement of the wedge block and shoes; and a drawbar extending through said end sill, spring means, wedge block, and follower, said drawbar having shouldered engagement with said follower to pull the same forwardly in draft.

GEORGE E. DATH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,816,121 McLamarrah July 28, 1931 2,402,146 Cardwell June 18, 1946 2,403,585 Dath July 9, 1946 

